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Cytotoxic Effects of Curcumin and Nigella Sativa on Cancer Cells

CSEF · 2023 Toxicology Honorable_mention Award

Mahna Aditya, Mahna Ayush · 11

Overview

After recently undergoing a chemotherapy treatment for cancer, our grandfather suffered from the unpleasant side effects of the treatment including fatigue and nausea. Since spices are known to serve as herbal remedies, we decided to explore the anticancer effects of spices to be used as a safe alternative. After discovering significant anticancer effects of Nigella Sativa and Curcumin among the four spices tested in our first project, we decided to further explore the molecular mechanisms causing these effects. The study investigated the effects on SK-GT-4 esophageal cancer cells by measuring the expression of key cell cycle proteins. The hypothesis was that the spices would cause cytotoxicity in cancer cells through inducing tumor suppressor genes and reducing the expression of oncogenes in a dose-dependent manner. The effects of three concentrations of the spices were measured against the control DMSO in triplicates. Cell death was measured by trypan blue, and RNA was extracted for qPCR analysis. The data was analyzed by calculating the fold change in comparison to DMSO using 2^(–ΔΔCt) method. The study found that Nigella Sativa induced dose-dependent cytotoxicity and led to increases in pro-apoptotic proteins Bax and decrease in anti-apoptotic genes Bcl 2 and Cyclin D1. Surprisingly, Curcumin displayed no consistent cytotoxic effects potentially due to its formulation or low dosage. The results provide insight into the mechanisms of Nigella Sativa as an anti-cancer agent and have important implications for the development of it as a therapeutic agent in cancer treatment, and further studies are warranted to explore its clinical applications.

Source coverage

This record comes from a published award list, not a complete project archive. Its abstract comes from CSEF's public project showcase as archived by the Internet Archive before judging (https://web.archive.org/web/20230401224130/https://ca-csef.zfairs.com/showcase/ShowcaseInfo?f=838e60b7-ea75-46e8-865c-fde4864244b3); the version presented may differ.

Awards (1)

  • Category Award: HM

Competition history

  • CSEF 2023 Toxicology · Entry S2102

Resources

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